Edinburgh's unsolved murders: Family of Ann Ballantine still without answers 38 years on

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Thirty-eight years ago today, the body of a young woman was found in an Edinburgh canal. She had been bound and wrapped in a dirty carpet. Her killer has never been identified.

Ann Ballantine was just 20 years old when her body was discovered in the waters of the Union Canal on January 21, 1987. Her body was found in the canal near Lower Gilmore Place, just 100 yards from the home she had made for herself on Yeaman Place.

Ligature marks around Ann’s neck indicated that she had been strangled, however it was thought that she may have been killed months earlier, and may have been in the water for up to 10 days. Her body was so decomposed when it was found that she had to be identified by dental records and a scar on her head.

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On November 17, she, along with her mother Isobel, visited a friend at the old Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. She had returned to her parents’ home with Isobel and visited her father Graham. As she left a short time later, she promised her parents that she would see them again soon - but that would be the last time they would see her alive.

The killer of 20-year-old Ann Ballantine has never been brought to justice. The killer of 20-year-old Ann Ballantine has never been brought to justice.
The killer of 20-year-old Ann Ballantine has never been brought to justice.

Five days later, worried friends alerted Isobel and Graham that they hadn’t seen or heard from her since that day. Isobel and Graham visited Ann’s Yeaman Place flat expecting to find her there, but there was no answer. They left notes and money.

Ann had recently split up with her boyfriend, but there was no indication that she was unhappy or in low spirits.

Her parents formally reported her missing on Boxing Day 1986 when she failed to appear at their house for Christmas dinner. Four weeks later, she would be found in the Union Canal.

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Police identified a number of missing items from her Fountainbridge flat - a black leather jerkin, a brass petrol lighter engraved with her initials, a photo album, camera and black shoulder bag.

It was a tragic end for a sociable woman with a wide-circle of friends who, at 20, had her whole life ahead of her. Her flat in Fountainbridge was an attempt to live an independent life. A heavy metal fan, she had purchased tickets to see Alice Cooper at the Playhouse. She wanted to give something back, and volunteered at the Canongate Youth Project.

However, now she lies in Mortonhall Cemetery.

Over the years the case has continued to be investigated by teams within Police Scotland and its predecessor Lothian and Borders Police. Isobel told The Scotsman in 2009 that there was a potential suspect, however she said that there wasn’t enough evidence to catch them.

She said: "There was always an idea of who might have done this but there just wasn't enough for police to catch them. So you keep hoping and hoping that there will be a breakthrough and something will happen to get over whatever stumbling blocks are in the way."

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Theories were still being generated as recently as 2019 but there has been little movement.

Isobel said in that 2009 interview that it is the hope and the hunt for truth that kept her going in the darkest times after the death of her daughter.

She said: "What keeps me going is the hope that there will be justice. And that what goes around, comes around."

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